Lewis Coser is a popular American and German sociologist. He is known as one of the founders of such a branch of science as the sociology of conflict. His scientific activity is highly valued all over the world. In Russia, the most popular works are: "Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in a Historical and Social Context", "Functions of Social Conflict".
Early years
Lewis Coser was born in Berlin in 1913. His father was a Jew by nationality, worked as a banker, the family lived prosperously. The youth's childhood passed without clouds, the problems began only in 1933, when the Nazis led by Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.
Shortly before that, Lewis Coser graduated from high school, at that time he was fond of politics, was an active supporter of the left movement. At that time, he was already well versed in the political life that surrounded him, he was a fully formed personality, which allowed him to understand what was going on. That's why he left at 20.from Germany to Paris.
Life in exile
The first years of Lewis Coser in exile were unusually difficult for him. There was always a shortage of money, all the time had to be spent looking for work and means of subsistence. The hero of our article worked wherever he had to, changing several professions during this time. He tried himself as a peddler, doing physical labor, there were attempts to find himself in the field of mental labor, for some time Coser worked as a secretary for a Swiss writer.
His suffering ended in 1936 when he received the right to a permanent job. After that, Lewis was able to get one of the positions in the French representative office of a brokerage firm from the United States of America.
Education
In parallel, he began attending classes at the Sorbonne to get additional education. By that time, he had not formed any special scientific predilections, so he opted for comparative literature. The decisive role was played by the fact that, in addition to German, Coser also knew English and French, so he was able to quickly delve into this area.
Next, in the biography of Lewis Coser comes the time of scientific activity. He undertakes to write a dissertation on the comparison of French, English and German short stories devoted to the same time period. It was assumed that the key highlight of this work would be the study of the role of the influence of social culture in society on the formation of specificity and uniquenational characteristics of a particular literature in a particular country.
Soon, certain difficulties arose with this, since his supervisor noted that questions of the social structure of the organization of society are not included in the field of study of literary criticism, being exclusively the prerogative of sociology. Therefore, the student changes his specialization, begins to attend lectures in sociology, he has a new supervisor. This is how his future specialization was determined, and the world received one of the greatest sociologists of our time.
Arrest and emigration
When World War II began, Coser was still in France. In 1941, by order of the local government, he was arrested as a native of Germany, since all Germans at that time were suspected of being spies. He was placed in a labor camp located in the south of the country. Coser was shocked by such treatment. This policy of the French government was one of the main points that pushed him to emigrate to America.
On the advice of the French immigration service, he changed his German name Ludwig to a more neutral and English one, becoming Lewis. During the process of processing migration documents, the hero of our article met with an employee of the International Refugee Association, whose name was Rosa Laub. A romantic relationship arose between them, which ended in a wedding in the future, so it can be argued that Coser's personal life has developed quite successfully.
USA
Once in America, the hero of our article at first worked in severalgovernment commissions, in particular in the Ministry of Defense and the department of military news. For a while, Coser was even one of the publishers of the then popular Modern Review magazine, which actively promoted leftist ideas. Lewis received part of his income through the publication of articles in newspapers.
In 1948, he officially formalizes American citizenship, after which he decides to return to scientific activity. Coser enters Columbia University to continue his studies in sociology. Shortly thereafter, he receives an offer from the college at the University of Chicago to start working as a teacher. He takes a seat in the Department of Sociology and Social Sciences. While working at this Chicago college, the hero of our article spends most of his free time deepening his knowledge of sociology, getting to know the existing points of view and approaches that are currently being used.
After two years in Chicago, Lewis returns to New York to continue his studies at Columbia University. After graduation, he teaches at Brandein, where he establishes a department of sociology from scratch. In 1954 he defended his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University. One of the most famous American sociologists of that time, Robert Merton, becomes his supervisor. On the basis of this work, the hero of our article publishes his first book en titled "The Functions of Social Conflict". Lewis Coser publishes it in 1956.
Key work
Until now, this work is considered fundamental in the research of the scientist. Considering the functions of conflict, Lewis Coser relies on the fact that there is a traditional position for Western science about the irremovability of conflicts from the social life of people. One of the main ones for him is the thesis about the ability to carry out collisions between subjects, performing stabilizing and integrating functions.
In his theory of conflict, Lewis Coser enters into open polemics with many sociologists of the time, who viewed conflict solely as a dysfunctional phenomenon.
Scientific activity
In the early 1950s, McCarthyism flourished in America. Supporters of leftist views, to which Koser belongs, are among the persecuted. All this greatly reduces his ability to publish. In order not to go underground at all, he, with the support of several dozen more influential scientists, begins to publish the journal Dissent, which still remains the mouthpiece of the American left.
After 15 years at Brandeis, he is transferring to Stony Brook University, where he remains almost until his retirement.
60-70s become the most productive years in his scientific career. He produces a large number of significant works. Among them are "The Functions of Social Conflict" by Lewis Coser, "Overwhelming Institutions", "Further Studies in Social Conflict".
At the end of life
As you know, in the mid-60s he was the head of the Eastern Sociological Society, and in the 70s of the American Sociological Association.
In 1987, Coser retired, leaving with his family in Massachusetts, settling in a small town - Cambridge. He died in 2003, just a few months short of his 90th birthday.
